Family Fridays: A New School Year a New Motto

We started school last week. We're a homeschooling family, but we start and end with the rest of the kids in our neighborhood. My kids were SO excited about beginning a new year. And I'm happy to report that so far it has been a great success.


One of the things we do at the beginning of each school year is to choose a family motto. Last year our motto was "We Can Do Hard Things". I loved that I'd hear them remind each other of the motto when they were working on something that they did not think they could do.

This year I wanted to somehow incorporate our last name. I found a family motto that went with our name from days long past. It was perfect for us and my boys were thrilled to find out that it had once been the motto of a Turner family during the time of "real" knights.

Our motto for the 2011- 2012 school year is

Animo et fide "By Courage and Faith"

We spent the first day of school discussing the motto and how it would apply to our school year. I'm liking this motto so much that it may prove difficult to find another next year.

The school year may have started, but it's never too late to sit down as a family and come up with a motto for the year.

Want to find out more about your last name? Visit Armorial Gold to find a motto that goes with your name.

This post was originally posted on Hip Family Tips on September 11, 2011.